The Stena Metall Group Eletronics Recycling. 1 Battery and Plastics recyclingpresent research July 2, 2013 Speaker: Christer Forsgren, - Environmental & Technical director, Stena Metall AB - Adjunct Professor Industrial Material Recycling, Chalmers, Gothenburg
2 Content: 1 Recycling research 2 Batteries 3 Battery recycling 4 Plastics 5 Plastics recycling 6 Conclusions
Research at Universites - Chalmers, Gothenburg Professor, Industriel Material Recycling 11 PhD students Batteries: Li-ion and NiMH, Fluorescent powder TiO 2 pigment Nd-magnets Fly ash (Cu/Sb) Solar cells WEEE plastics with Sb and Br LCDs - Linköping University Urban and Landfill Mining - KTH, Stockholm Gasification/Pyrolysis of waste
Recycling Research Intelligence A VINNOVA financed project A webb based data base to find strong recycling research groups all over the world. Published October 2013. 4
The Recycling Process SIS, Separate Identify - Sort 5
2 Batteries for recycling A) Primary Batteries (Non rechargeable) - Alkaline batteries Fe, Mn, C and Zn - Li, Zn-air, etc. - Button cells Ag, Hg 6 B) Secondary Batteries (Rechargeable) a) Li-Ion (Li content 0,1-5 % of cell weight) Anode: Carbon Cathode: Metal oxides Electrolyte: Li-salt + solvent Membrane (Glass, PVdF, etc.), getter, etc. Computers, mobile phones, tools, etc. (LiCoO2) EHV, EV( Li-FePO4, Li-MnO, Li-NiMnO Li-S) b) NiMH EHV (Toyota Prius) c) NiCd Tools, emergency batteries Value ($) Co, Cu and Ni Ni, Sn, Cu, (Li) Ni, REM Ni
3 Battery recycling a) Possible reuse? b) Replacing cells in battery? c) A battery often consists of 1 Cells 2 Structure (metals and plastics) 3 Electronics (computer, GPS, PCB, etc.) d) Sorting different batteries. Combinations of manual, screens and sensor based. Optisort a Swedish, Chalmers initiated company based on pattern recognition. e) Sorting different metals by melting (pyro) or/and extraction (hydro) Safety! a) Energy content, short circuit b) Elemental Li. c) Some chemistries are self charging 7
LiMnNi-oxide battery mass balance, developing stadge for battery Element Weight % in cell Elemental (%) Al 6.7 100 Cu 9.7 100 Li 1.9 < 0.1 Mn 18.4 0 Ni 6.6 0 Sn 7.7 100 C? 100 F? Fraction that is water soluble? Solvents? Characteristics?
Removal of separator plastic Discharge the battery/cell Battery/ cell Molten saltelectrowinning Or Electrolysis Leach solutions Solvent Extraction Shredded electrodes Leach solutions devoid of Sn Seiving & Washing or eddy current separation Removal of pvdf Black mass+ pvdf Pyrolysis Blackmass Salt bath Knife Shredding + density separation Al, Cu- can be sent to smeltors Li, Ni metal Ni, Mn, Li Oxides Precipitation of Sn Leach solutions C powder Sn metal Input 9 Leaching with Inorganic acids Process Output
4 Plastics used in EEE A) Thermoplastics - Polystyren based ABS, HIPS - Polyolefin based PP, PE, HFFR - Polyvinylchloride (cables) PVC - Polycarbonates (high impact) PC, PC/ABS B) Thermo set - PCB with epoxy - Rubber - Polyurethane C) Misc. - Bioplastics. a) Biobased Starch, ethanol to PE, etc. b) Biodegradable Starch, cellulose, etc. c) Oxy degradable Often fossil carbon with a metal salt 10
5 Recycling of plastics Why difficult? Many qualities, small volumes, small differences in characteristics (X-ray, density, color, etc., most of them do not blend well, impurities difficult to remove, etc. Use 1) Thermoplastic material - Mixed with virgin plastics, 20-60 % - Used in low quality applications - Energy recovery 2) Thermo set plastic - Used as filler in new polymers - Energy recovery 11
Current detection technologies? 12
Principle of detection - different wave lengths Gammaradiation X-ray [m] 10-12 10-11 10-10 10-9 Sensor/Technology RM (Radiometric) XRT (X-ray transmission) Material Property Natural Gamma Radiation Atomic Density Ultraviolett (UV) 10-8 10-7 XRF (X-ray fluorescence) Elemental Spectroscopy Visible light (VIS) 10-6 10-5 COLOR (CCD Color Camera) Reflection, Absorption, Transmission Near Infrared (NIR) Infrared (IR) Microwaves 10-4 10-3 10-2 10-1 PM (Photometric) NIR / MIR (Near/Medium Infrared Spectrometry) Monochromatic Reflection/ Absorption of Laser Light Reflection, Absorption (Molecular Spectroscopy) 10 1 Radio waves 10 2 10 3 10 Alternating current (AC) 4 LIBS EM (Electro-Magnetic sensor) Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy Conductivity, permeability 13
Sorting principle A wide range of high-tech sensors are used to identify material and sort it out by air jets 14
5 Recycling of plastics, sorting technologies 1) Plastics from other material 2) One plastic from another plastic, BFR containing from non BFR cont. A Density separation (> 1 mm) a) PE and PP floats in water b) ABS and PS floats in water if density is 1,12 c) All other plastics sink Development: Selection of salt, media, to generate consistent density B Sensor based sorting ( > 5-10 mm) Identification: NIR, XRF, Color, etc. Separation: Air jets, mechanical flip Development: Combination of many different sensors 15 C Other emerging technologies - Static electricity, surface dry - Melt filtration, high capacity - Blends of polymers, impact of small pieces of metal (Cu and Fe) - Polymer dissolving, mainly PVC - Compounding, compensation for impurities - Methanol to olefin
5 Conclusions A) Very little recycling research has been done, but is increasing B) There is a difference between valuable material and strategic metals C) Increase material recycling and feed stock recycling 16
17 Thank you!